DrJ

Wow, thanks for the warm (re)welcome guys...very nice! I can't tell you how many times over the past couple of years I've thought "I really need to get back to checking out the Organissimo forum" and then got distracted with the hubub of life...2 young kids primarily! I've really missed the great discussions here. This time for sure, I'm going to make the time to check in more often. Now with all that mushy stuff out of the way - who's got my damn Donaldson Mosaic box?!?!

If anyone has a copy in good condition they're willing to let go for a reasonable price, I'd be grateful. Lemme know and thanks!

Wow, another giant gone. Very sad news.

I already have this set but wanted to alert people to this listing (it's not mine or anyone that I know, just came across it this morning). This is a fantastic price given the condition and the fact it's been out of print for like 25 years or something. The music is WONDERFUL, the notes definitive. Here's the link: Hodes Mosaic

Hi - sorry if it got lost in my prior message above, but the set has been sold.

Thanks for all the kind "re-welcomes" guys! The good news is most of the craziness is good stuff...the "little guy in the photo" is now almost 5 (gotta update that pic!), and we have a 2nd child (another boy) on the way in April/early May.

Hi there - well hopefully you'll still feel that way when I tell you someone else (from the SH Forums) just bought the set (their message came in about 10 minutes before yours). Sorry about that. Anyway I do hope to post here a bit more often than I have been lately (wouldn't be too hard!) - my life is crazy these days but I miss talking with you and all the other knowledgable jazz fans here.

I listed this on the Steve Hoffman forums but there's a relatively small jazz contingent there so figured I'd list it here too. Mint minus condition all around - discs, booklet, "fatboy" jewel case, and inserts! I'm asking $80 plus buyer pays shipping - which if you follow sales/auctions for this set is VERY low (it listed for $60-65 new and has been out of print and hard to find for about a decade). Let me know if you're interested.

This is a nice idea but this would only be useful, IMHO, for certain BN titles - particularly earlier (pre-1958) ones. On the Steve Hoffman forums, there have been several discussions about Rudy's recordings and production of stereo and mono versions of the BN sessions after 1958. Some of the mono records from that point on, according to people who are in the know, were merely fold-downs from the stereo master tapes. No point having added mono versions that are just fold-downs from stereo - heck, you could make those yourself! Others were from a true mono master tape, though, and those would be GREAT to have included along with their stereo counterparts on a single disc!

Fantastic box, do not miss it folks...well worth the money. NONAAH, cool, always wanted to hear that one! Been enjoying SNURDY McGURDY again lately.

I won this set, supposedly mint condition vinyl, on eBay for $115. A lot of money for 4 LPs, but I'm still very excited as I have looked far and wide for either the CD or LP version and the only copies I could find before were listed at ridiculous prices ($220-400!!!). I already know the music from CD-Rs, and love it - huge Merrill fan (recently been hooked on the COLLABORATION disc with Gil Evans). Did I get ripped off or get a decent deal?

There's a whole history of jazz in this one set. Definitely I'd suggest saving up and getting it. I can't think of a better Mosaic.

Some nice and quite rare Longhair stuff in the MERCURY 1940s SESSIONS box (the one with the outer cover made to look like an old radio). Great box overall, by the way.

WOW! Thanks for the info, BFrank, just a relatively short jaunt to Yoshi's from Davis where I am...gotta coordinate being there somehow.

Bobby Hutcherson - CRUISIN' THE BIRD (Landmark)

Wonder why Blue Note/Cuscuna don't issue it now???

I need WAY more Threadgill in my collection. CARRY THE DAY is all I got, and it's freakin' amazing.

I just wanted to say that Mr. Bryant laid down some of the finest jazz recordings on the planet during this time period, yet they are shamefully obscure because most were made for EmArcy (some Japanese only) and are long out of print. I was tipped off by the Penguin Guide guys who raved in an earlier edition...and so found TRIO TODAY and flipped. I now have all of the following EmArcy recordings - most took me literally YEARS to locate at a reasonable price - and would recommend them highly to anyone who likes adventurous, distinctive, yet relaxed piano-based jazz: TRIO TODAY PLAYS BASIE AND ELLINGTON GOLDEN EARRINGS THROUGH THE YEARS, VOL. 1 NO PROBLEM (one of the few non-trio dates - has Kenny Burrell along!) ALL YOURS...AND MINE MEETS RAY BROWN + 1 You listen to a tune like Bryant's rendition of "Nardis" on TRIO TODAY and you can be lulled into thinking it's just an easy listenin' rendition, until you REALLY listen and hear him explode (quietly, always quietly) in the middle section. The restraint mixed with fire, tempered by many years of experience is striking and so rare in jazz of this era. Still missing in action for me on the Bryant EmArcy front are BLUE MOODS, SOLO LIVE IN TOKYO - PLAYS BLUES AND BOOGIE, and THROUGH THE YEARS VOL. 2 - plus a track on an EmArcy comp called JAZZ AT ITS FINEST: EMARCY TODAY. I WILL get all these eventually, this stuff is THAT good. Anyone else enjoy this music?

Dizzy Reece - MANHATTAN PROJECT (Bee Hive) Richie Kamuca - RICHIE (Concord) Frank Wess/Johnny Coles - TWO AT THE TOP (Uptown)

Sorry if there is already another discussion about this box....I have been "away" from the forums for a while and can't seem to get the search function to work today. I have had this box for some time but am really just getting around to listening to it in earnest. What a GAS! I've been checking out Disc III today, and I love even the short, pop-influenced arrangements. Maybe I'm getting jaded but seldom do I feel compelled to get up and dance while sitting in my listening room, a la Thelonious Monk, but this stuff WILL do it every time. Here's to the joy of uncomplicated FUNKINESS awash in a "good bath of overtones!" SCREW the liner note writer who has faint praise for those pop covers...Ok so it's not stuff to change the future of jazz, but it's FUN - something this guy apparently hasn't had in many years. Some of the most convincing pop covers by a jazz artist ever, for sure. Tons of great moments too - like Dennis Budimir's oddball chord extensions in "I Got You (I Feel Good)," you can HEAR the man smiling. And then you come to Teddy Edwards' reading of "I Concentrate on You" and you realize that there is maybe nothing quite so beautiful as this reading of that hoary old tune. Sorry, had to get that off my chest. That, and Malcom Addey is a friggin' wizard.

Late arriver here...great batch of Conns! I can't wait to hear the Blackburn stuff!

I use an HHB CDR830 BurnIT Professional. Great because: 1) It's simple to use and has all the features you really want/need 2) Works with regular old computer CD-R/RW discs - saves $$$ 3) Makes tonally neutral burns (big important thing for me...my old Sony burner added "warmth" to everything which I hated - I want to hear what is going into the unit from the source) Sells for about $500 but if you are into transferring vinyl to CD and want a simple, great sounding way to do it, this machine is great. I learned about it on the Steve Hoffman Forums, I believe Steve uses one himself because of its neutrality/lack of coloration.

So an update on my gear...fascinating to look back on this thread and realize how many changes it's gone through in the past year or so. I'm getting darn close though to being finished futzing, it is sounding great and much less expensive than my original "high end" system. Lesson learned. Vintage tubes rock! McIntosh MC30 monoblocks (all the old out of spec caps now replaced) Marantz 7 preamp (all the old out of spec caps now replaced) Harman Kardon A500 integrated tube amp circa 1960 (backup amp) Nottingham Spacedeck and Spacearm, Shure V15VxMR cart Whest PS .20 phono stage (most recent acquisition...unbelievable solid state phono stage) Bozak Urban 302A speakers - now heavily modded (changed the crossover caps and adjusted the crossover points, replaced the paper tweets and mids with the slightly later aluminum models, moved the tweeters up to the top of the cabinets) Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player - smokes my old over-priced tube DAC to be honest HHB BurnIT Professional CD burner Regular old 16 gauge lamp cord for speaker wire Cheap Radio Shack type RCA interconnects No surge protector or power conditioner...just a Wiremold 9 outlet power strip straight into the wall Still to be cleaned up and plugged in: Fisher 101-R tube tuner (circa 1960) Thorens TD-124 turntable with Empire tonearm and vintage Stanton 681 EEE cart

As much as I admire Young I think his best work is behind him. Start collecting the records from COMES A TIME and earlier if you really want to know what he was once capable of. Some of the best stuff rock has ever offered up.

I think CIRRUS is a fantastic set...I have felt for some time that someone (Blue Note or Mosaic) should put out a "Hutch and Shaw" set including CIRRUS as well as the LIVE AT MONTREUX material with Hutch and Shaw...and hopefully this would include some previously unreleased live material (I have no idea if there is any, just hoping!).